Why did you name the golf club Purgatory?

By: Brian Rhodes on June 12th, 2015

The Golf Club originally had the working name Sassafras, the Architects original drawing is posted in the hallway, and titled with that name. There were some sassafras trees over in the north end of the property. That’s a relatively unique tree in Central Indiana, but informal market research indicated that Sassafras was not a name that serious golfers would embrace.

In religious mythology, Purgatory is where souls pay for their earthly mistakes to gain entry into heaven. It’s about overcoming obstacles to attain eternal happiness. In medieval poetry, Purgatory was referred to as “sweet misery.” Golf often feels like that; acts of difficulty while obtaining something wonderful.

The golf course is named Purgatory because it’s a beautiful place for you to test your limits. Purgatory is a name that immediately resonated with golfers and it fits, it fits with why people play golf. From the time you tee off on the first hole you have challenges and obstacles that you must navigate your way through until the last hole. You’ve had good holes and bad holes, and the shot that you think you should have made, and a few shots no one ever talks about, the miss-hits that end up perfect.

Purgatory conjures images of great obstacle; it’s a name you remember. Every golf course is difficult if you play from the wrong tees boxes. Is our golf course a challenge? Absolutely. But does that mean you have to make it too difficult for yourself? The answer is no. Play a distance that allows you to enjoy the course and the day, you will find the course to be almost heavenly from the correct set of tees.

The logo also is a discussion starter that even non-golfers find very interesting.